According to a draft 2025 budget seen by Reuters, German aid to Ukraine would be cut to 4 billion euros ($4.35 billion) in 2025 from around 8 billion euros in 2024.
Germany believes Ukraine could meet most of its military needs with a $50 billion loan from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets approved by the G7.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Photo: Reuters
"Ukraine's financing is guaranteed for the foreseeable future thanks to European instruments and G7 loans," German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The news comes as Europe is worried that aid to Ukraine from the US will be cut sharply if Donald Trump returns to the White House, as he has just nominated Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential candidate.
JD Vance has been a vocal opponent of military aid to Ukraine and has warned that Europe will have to rely less on the US to defend the continent.
Germany's military arms reserves, already depleted by decades of underinvestment, have been further depleted by supplying weapons to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia over the past two years.
Germany has so far donated three Patriot air defense systems to Kiev, more than any other country, reducing the number of Patriot systems in Germany to nine.
Although military aid to Ukraine will be cut, Germany will still adhere to the NATO target of spending 2% of GDP on defense by 2025, for a total of 75.3 billion euros.
Germany's defense budget is expected to increase by 1.3 billion euros compared to 2024, but is much lower than the 6.7 billion euros requested by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
Accordingly, the German Ministry of Defense was forced to cut ammunition orders for 2025 by more than half, reduce procurement costs by 260 million euros and research and development costs by more than 200 million euros.
Bui Huy (according to Reuters)
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/duc-se-giam-mot-nua-vien-tro-quan-su-cho-ukraine-post303903.html
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